OUR SAY: Fair go Premier? You're kidding

EACH day is one day closer to the day the Premier calls the state election.

With no margin to lose it will be a hard-fought contest neither major party will take for granted.

However, it would seem that Gladstone is one seat Annastacia Palaszczuk can easily count on with local member Glenn Butcher currently in a one-horse race.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson suggests she will field a candidate but as yet, no announcement.

The LNP likewise has offered no alternative in a seat they clearly don't believe they have a shot at.

Mr Butcher is popular at home but he's going to have a hard time explaining why fencing repair work resulting from Cyclone Debbie has been awarded to a NSW company when a local Gladstone company has done just about everything it could to secure the contract.

Originally touted as "jobs for locals", Lex Davies was left with no answers after actively chasing the work he says would have employed himself and 11 others for a year.

Jobs, jobs, jobs!

This State Government has been sprouting the jobs mantra ever since being elected yet continues to ignore opportunities in the regions.

Governments are not bottomless pits of taxpayers' dollars, so why they would send our hard-earned to NSW instead of giving the contract to a local is beyond belief.

There's doing and there's being seen to be doing and it's these types of stories that are just a slap in the face of communities doing it tough.

The government was quick to blame rules inherited from the LNP, which say the lowest price wins.

It sounds pretty hollow to me, especially after describing the work as "jobs for locals".